There’s something oddly appealing about these Bears of the 90s. Like George Bush, they want to be described as kinder and gentler–more street smart and savvy–but what they really are is more neurotic and fallible. Even so, that only makes them more recognizably human.
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So, like the stock dive, fears about the economy, and dread of the impending holiday season, the Bears intruded on Thanksgiving this year. They played the Detroit Lions, in the best Turkey Day football game in seasons. Usually, the Lions and the Dallas Cowboys–the National Football League’s traditional Thanksgiving hosts–play meaningless, soporific games on the holiday, against two teams with the ill fortune to be plucked for the occasion. These contests are the football equivalent of Muzak: They’re meant to be talked over, intended as background noise as we catch up with old friends and visiting family members, while sampling the Beaujolais nouveau. This year, however, the Bears and the resurgent Lions were playing for first place in the National Football Conference’s Central Division. The Bears had blundered away their previous game, only four days before, against the Miami Dolphins, and the Lions could tie for first at 9-4 with a win. The first-string broadcasting team of John Madden and Pat Summerall was on hand to emphasize the importance of the outcome. And I was alone in front of the television, concentrating on the game, putting off all holiday festivities until later in the day.
Against the Dolphins, the Bears marched calmly to a first-quarter touchdown, with Muster doing the honors on a three-yard run. Miami quarterback Dan Marino rallied his team to a field goal in the second quarter, but the Bears responded in kind before the half, with Muster providing the key play on a 24-yard run, one of his vintage efforts in which he takes the ball parallel to the line, cuts back into the hole, slips a couple of tackles around his hips, and then takes off at his deceptive speed, with the defenders falling away all around him. It’s etched in our minds in part because it was Muster’s last moment of glory: he left the game immediately afterward with a hamstring injury, and the Bears’ offense has not been the same since.
After the Lions lost starting quarterback Rodney Peete, however, the Bears stymied them in their first meeting in Soldier Field by concentrating on Sanders and forcing backup quarterback Erik Kramer to beat them. They put seven players in the center of the field, with the outside linebackers lining up behind the defensive ends to make it more difficult to block them. Kramer couldn’t respond.
